09/08/2026
The second time around was supposed to feel familiar.
But this birth was anything but.
With her first baby, she experienced a breech birth that required a manual version—and an epidural that didn’t work, leaving her to feel the pain of the entire procedure.
This time, pregnancy brought a different kind of challenge.
She developed placenta accreta, a rare and serious condition in which the placenta grows abnormally deep into the uterine wall. In her case, it was fused to both the uterus and bladder, making delivery incredibly high-risk.
Her baby needed to be delivered at just 34 weeks.
This was not a delivery room filled with only Mom, Dad, and their OB.
An OB surgical team prepared for a possible hysterectomy. Surgeons, urology, the NICU team, and nurses gathered. Everyone was preparing for the very real possibility of massive bleeding and life-threatening complications.
The atmosphere was somber.
There were so many unknowns.
And yet, in the middle of all that uncertainty, a baby was waiting to be born.
Because of the relationship I had built with her OB and the NICU team at Baylor Scott and White Fort Worth, I was given the incredible privilege of documenting the birth and the moments surrounding it.
I photographed the preparation.
The waiting.
The fear.
The teamwork.
The surgery.
And ultimately… her baby.
This is the part of birth photography I wish more people understood.
Sometimes, I’m not there simply to photograph the moment a baby takes their first breath.
Sometimes, I’m there to document the strength it takes to get there.
To preserve the story of a mother who walked into one of the most frightening days of her life—and walked out a mother of two.
Because sometimes, the most powerful birth stories are the ones where everyone in the room knows exactly how much is at stake.
